Finland to teach typing rather than handwriting in schools

From 2016, Finnish schoolchildren will learn how to touch-type and text
message rather than handwriting

Every Finnish pupil will be issued with a tablet on which they will learn how to touch-type and speed-textPhoto: AFP/FREDERICK FLORIN/GETTY

By David Blair

10:53AM GMT 05 Feb 2015

Speed-texting and touch-typing are set to reign supreme in Finland’s schools where the requirement to master traditional cursive handwriting is being dropped from the curriculum.

From 2016 onwards, Finnish children will no longer be taught joined-up writing. Instead, the emphasis will be on touch typing and the most efficient way of composing a text message.

These skills will be "more relevant to everyday life", said the Finnish board of education. In taking this step, Finland is following the example of America, where 43 statesno longer require the teaching of cursive handwriting in public schools.

Every Finnish pupil will be issued with a tablet on which they will learn how to touch-type and speed-text. But teachers concede that poorer pupils, who may not have such devices at home, could find themselves at a disadvantage.

“There are families which cannot afford to acquire technical equipment,” said Kasurila Marja Rytivaara, the headmaster of a primary school. “This may result in some students remaining marginalised. It is the school's task to identify if this is happening,” he told Savon Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper.

But the steady disappearance of cursive handwriting from schools in America and now in Finland is deeply controversial. One consequence is that even supposedly literate pupils are often unable to read documents that are handwritten.

When George Zimmerman was placed on trial in Florida in 2013 for shooting the black teenager Trayvon Martin, a key witness was Trayvon's 19-year-old friend, Rachel Jeantel.

Her school no longer troubled its pupils with traditional writing skills. In court, Ms Jeantel was forced to admit her inability to read a handwritten document that was passed to her by a lawyer.

In addition, experts believe that learning cursive handwriting helps young children to memorise letters, learn the alphabet and develop their hand-eye-brain coordination. This exercise in digital precision may also help to bring out the skills of those who have the talent to be surgeons or artists.

Dropping cursive handwriting would also require the abandonment of traditional handwritten exams. In America, exam scripts have often been replaced by multiple choice tests.

These concerns have caused a reaction against the fading away of cursive writing. Last year, Tennessee decided that all schools in the state will go back to teaching traditional writing skills from this Autumn onwards. Learning cursive handwriting will be compulsory in Tennessee for at least two years of schooling.